


your stitches are all out (but your scars are healing wrong)

by tardigradeschool



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fake Science, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Violence, Possession, not as sad as it sounds I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 16:49:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13505700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tardigradeschool/pseuds/tardigradeschool
Summary: When it’s over, and she can barely feel what makes her herself anymore, the umbrella is tattered beyond repair. With her last traces of energy, Lup grasps for shelter, reaching out for somewhere to store her torn soul until she can be helpful again. At the edge of her awareness, she feels a familiar shape, a familiar warmth -- in her exhaustion she could almost mistake it for her own body. She reaches for it and pulls herself clumsily inside.Safe and contained, she lets consciousness go.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from regina spektor's "one more time with feeling". all of it is written already, so it'll be coming out over the next couple days
> 
> this was inspired by prompts from @passionatememes and @inkedinserendipity. check them out!

The Umbrastaff shakes violently in Angus’s grip. “Taako!” he cries. “Help!” 

He thrusts the umbrella towards where Taako lies on the ground. It twists mid-air so Taako can grab it handle first; he barely manages to direct it towards the top of this tendril of Hunger before it explodes, with light so bright it burns. 

When Angus opens his eyes, blinking away the effects of the light, the column of Hunger and all its creatures have been entirely scorched away. Mouth agape, he turns to congratulate Taako, only to find that he’s unconscious. The remains of a shattered Umbrastaff lay in his limp hand.

 

(Lup is more furious than she can ever remember being inside this damn thing. Furious enough that she doesn’t regulate herself; this is the Hunger and she isn’t going to stand by and watch it slaughter her family  _ again _ . She doesn’t hold back, just lets go and for a moment -- before she starts to go numb again from expending too much energy, too much of herself -- it feels good.

When it’s over, and she can barely feel what makes her herself anymore, the umbrella is tattered beyond repair. With her last traces of energy, Lup grasps for shelter, reaching out for somewhere to store her torn soul until she can be helpful again. At the edge of her awareness, she feels a familiar shape, a familiar warmth -- in her exhaustion she could almost mistake it for her own body. She reaches for it and pulls herself clumsily inside. 

Safe and contained, she lets consciousness go.)

 

Barry reaches Taako first, reaching for him with a familiarity that startles Angus. “Taako,” he says, an edge of obvious desperation in his voice. “Taako, wake up, please.” 

Everyone in the room is slowly picking themselves up; Carey tugs at Magnus’s sleeve, murmurs something to him. Magnus laughs, voice tinged with exhaustion. Davenport pulls Merle to his feet; his fingers hesitate over Merle’s wooden arm and at Merle’s encouragement, he slides his fingers over the bark curiously. 

Angus creeps closer to Barry and Taako as Barry gently shakes his shoulders. “Please,” he repeats, and Taako’s eyes blink open. He focuses on Angus for a moment, gaze distant, and then his line of sight lands on Barry and he smiles. 

It’s not a smile that Angus has ever seen before from Taako; it’s genuine and affectionate, with seemingly nothing held back. “Hey, Barry,” he says, and for a moment, his voice sounds different too, not as sharp. He clears his throat and his voice returns to normal. “What happened?”

Barry helps him sit up. “You saved us,” he says. 

“Oh, you know,” Taako says, waving a faux-modest hand. “It’s a job, baby. Gotta earn a living somehow.” He clears his throat again. “Hey, Ango. You good?”

“I’m fine, sir,” Angus says, and he does not mention the fact that the Umbrastaff was the one to cast the spell that saved them, apparently all on its own. He glances up at the sky, where the Hunger still swirls above them. “But we’ve got some work to do.”

 

First order of business after the apocalypse is, natch, pass the fuck out. Taako doesn’t think he’s slept so deeply in years -- decades, maybe. When he wakes up, Angus has curled (or maybe been placed) in front of him, and Magnus and Merle are out like lights on an air mattress on his dorm room floor. 

Taako has no idea how they got in without waking him up -- he was always the wary one, even when he was a kid, always the one who jumped awake at the slightest creak in the floor. But this battle has hit him like a baseball bat to the forehead, so who can blame him for sleeping in.

Carefully, so as not to jostle Angus, he scoots down to the end of the bed, throwing the extra covers over Angus’s body. He slips out the door. 

Barry is the only person in the cafeteria. He looks fucking awful.

“You look fucking awful,” Taako says. 

Barry smiles at him, somewhat anemically. “Morning,” he says. “Wanna sit?”

Taako scoops up a couple things from the scruffy buffet table that some angel of a Bureau employee has set out and sits down across from Barry. “Seriously,” he says. “Do you have the flu?”

Barry shakes his head. “I’m okay,” he says, not even putting effort into the lie. “I just… it always takes me some time to adjust after I remember her again, but this time I have a physical body, and it’s just making everything worse.” He absent-mindedly takes the banana that Taako thrusts at him and starts peeling it. “I just… I never thought that this would happen without her. It’s just linked, fighting and starting over, and the fact that I can’t start over--” He breaks off.

“Mm,” Taako says. He spreads some peanut butter on a pathetic, palm sized bagel.

Barry takes a bite from his banana. “What about you?” he asks. “It’s a stupid question, but are you--” He looks up, then stares. “Taako,” he says. “That’s peanut butter.”

“Yeah?” Taako says, nonplussed.

“You’re  _ allergic _ ,” Barry says, plucking the bagel from his hand. “What the fuck, did Lucretia make you forget that too?”

“Oh,” Taako says. “Shit, I don’t know. I’m just tired.” 

Barry stares at him. “I guess,” he says. “Apocalypse’ll do a number on you, I guess.” He takes a pensive bite from the peanut butter bagel. 

Taako nudges his leg. “There’s a slumber party in my room,” he says. “You might have to wrestle someone if you want to sleep next to Magnus, but you can definitely take Merle in a fight.”

“God, I’ve missed sleeping with people,” Barry says, so sincerely that Taako chokes on his orange juice. 

 

Kravitz finally gets time to stop by the next day. They’re both still so tired that most of the visit is them mumbling appreciation for each other and falling asleep in Taako’s bed.

“Turn over,” Taako mutters. “I’m gonna be the big spoon.”

Kravitz kisses him clumsily before rolling over. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”

 

After the first couple days of dazed recharging, everyone starts making plans. As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, Taako’s not quite ready to let go of his people yet -- but thankfully, none of them seem ready to yet either. Carey ends up lending Magnus the keys to her uncle’s summer home on a lake outside Neverwinter. It’s not quite big enough for six, but Merle pretends it’s a hardship to sleep in Davenport’s room (“You’d never guess someone with a nose that small could do so much snoring!”) and they make it work. 

Barry still looks pale and unhealthy -- though he assures them some of it is just how the bodies come out of the tank. Angus, who has quickly adopted Barry as one of his favorites, sometimes convinces him to go out for walks in the early fall air. 

Taako can tell the rest of them are ready to treat him like they’re treating Barry -- with a firm, careful eye. They look at him the same way they did right after Lup disappeared. He can feel them making eye contact over his head. He doesn’t know how to explain it to them that it just hasn’t sunk in yet. It doesn’t feel like Lup is really gone.

The house is breezy at night -- nothing like the Starblaster, which was stifling at best. Still, barely a night goes by without some kind of mild crisis. Taako hears about most of them in the morning; he’s still sleeping oddly, too deeply and without dreams. He hasn’t had a night terror in weeks.

On the thirtieth day after the apocalypse, Taako wakes up standing up in the kitchen and almost falls over. Barry grabs him by the arms. It’s still dark outside. Taako lets himself fall forward against Barry while he steadies himself. When he pulls back, he sees that Barry looks almost panicked.

“You were sleepwalking,” Barry says. 

“Oh yeah,” Taako says. “I do that sometimes now. Started a few years back.”

“Oh,” Barry says. “Sorry, I just -- you were humming. That song Lup sang for years and years, remember?” He hums a few bars of a drinking song.

Taako laughs. “I forgot about that song! Impossible to get out of your fucking head.” 

“Yeah,” Barry says. “You were humming it just like she used to. And you’ve got your hair up just the way that -- and you’re cooking--” He takes a deep breath. 

Taako reaches up. Sure enough, he’s knotted his hair on top of his head just like Lup used to. He glances down at the pan in front of him. He’s cooking the string beans that Magnus bought from the farmer’s market Lup’s favorite way. “Huh,” he says. 

“Taako,” Barry says. “You know I don’t -- I don’t want to imply -- but it was fucking  _ uncanny _ .” He looks unsettled, even more so than he’s been since he got back. “You were  _ moving _ like her.”

“Sorry,” Taako says. “I don’t know what to tell you.” He takes the skillet and dumps the green beans into the compost. One can never be too safe. 

 

Kravitz kisses him in greeting. Taako has missed him more than he wants to admit; talking over stones is not the same thing as seeing his boyfriend in person. When Kravitz pulls back, his nose is wrinkled.

“What?” Taako says. “Did I forget my deodorant?” He sniffs at an armpit.

“No, it’s not that,” Kravitz says, frowning. “Have you been spending a lot of time with Barry?” 

“I mean, we live in a house together,” Taako says. “So yes?”

“Hmm,” Kravitz says, and he smells the air again. 

Taako watches him. “Do I need a stronger perfume?” he asks.

Kravitz smiles at him. “No,” he says. “It’s nothing like that, don’t worry. You just smell a little undead, that’s all.”

Taako is the only one free when Barry decides to clear out his cave. He doesn’t have anything better to do, so he comes along.

“There isn’t much I need,” Barry says. “A lot of it is pretty useless.” He lets his conjured light float along in front of them down the tunnel. “But I’ve got some gold stored away, plus some research that might come in handy for  _ someone that is not me _ .” He says this loudly to the wall in case the Raven Queen is listening.

They reach a room full of equipment, floor to ceiling. Lopsided shelves line the walls, and on them, hundred of different machines and storage containers are lined.

Taako pulls down a glass sphere the size of his head. As soon as he touches it, it starts whirring furiously. “Yeesh,” Taako says, setting it down on the floor. 

“Sorry,” Barry says. “Most of this stuff is just prototypes.” He moves aside something on a shelf and sets what looks like a gramophone down on the center of the table. “See, this is just something I fiddled with when I couldn’t look at maps anymore. It’s sort of like a truth potion or Zone of Truth, but instead of casting anything, someone just cranks the side and their thoughts come out.”

“Eh,” Taako says. “I could do that.” He spins the crank on the side of the box and the gramophone says,  _ This is dope! _

Barry laughs. “It’s totally useless, though. A solution to a problem that’s already solved.” He moves on to another shelf and pulls out something that looks like a suspended compass. “This thing I made when I still thought Lup could be alive somewhere. I locked it on to her, so it should point to her no matter where she is.” He thumps the side of it with affectionate frustration. “It’s fucking junk.”

He crouches down to retrieve a canister of something from the bottom shelf. Taako watches him, until something next to him creaks. 

On the table beside him, the compass sluggishly turns, fighting against the rust where it connects to its base. With agonizing slowness, it moves in wide circles, eventually settling on a place to stop.

“Barry,” Taako says quietly.

“What’s up?” Barry says, still rummaging through a box on the floor. “Is there anything you want to take--” He looks up and cuts himself off abruptly. “Oh.”

The compass is pointing directly at Taako. Taako takes an experimental step forward, and after a moment the compass follows him. 

“ _ Oh _ ,” Barry says.

“Is this a twin thing?” Taako asks quickly. “Is there any chance it’s a mix up? It thinks I’m her because we’re twins?” Even to him, the argument seems weak.

“No,” Barry says. “I mean, it follows her soul, so unless…” He trails off.

“Unless?” Taako prompts.

Barry meets his eyes. For the first time since they got their memories back, there’s a hint of that old Barry response to a challenge. There’s a glint of hope. 

“Taako,” he says. “I have a theory. It’s gonna be weird, but…” He shakes his head, grinning, and looks up at his rows of inventions. “We’ve got some work to do.” 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We know someone who is very good at getting souls into bodies,” Barry says. “Do you think he’s any good at getting them out again?”
> 
> “Can’t stand that motherfucker,” Taako groans. “Lucas Miller can suck my dick.”
> 
> “On the one hand, I completely agree,” Barry says. “But on the other, if he can save Lup, I’ll suck his.”

  


“Found it!” Barry exclaims. He wheels out an old chalkboard covered with equations and starts wiping it down. “Okay, so. There’s a couple issues here.”

“Mm,” Taako says. “You think?” He pulls a bag of popcorn out of his purse and starts eating it. 

Barry doesn’t blink. “Alright,” he says. “So, possibility one is that as soon as Lup gets enough strength up, she’ll leave your body on her own. That’s pretty unlikely. It was a powerful spell, but she should have been able to regain energy by now.” 

“And what’s possibility two?” Taako asks, distaste written all over his face. “She’s trapped in here?” He rests a hand on his chest.

“Yes,” Barry says. “You have to remember, if my theory is right, she hasn’t been mobile for over a decade. She probably doesn’t know how to get out, if she even has the presence to try. That’s something we have to look out for, because if she tries to leave your body and isn’t careful about it, there could be… damage.”

“To me or to her?” Taako asks.

“Either or both,” Barry says, “but likely just you. Which brings us to possibility three, which is pretty much an offshoot of possibility two. If she stays in you too long there are going to start to be consequences.”

“To me or to her?” Taako repeats.

“To you,” Barry says. “Biological bodies aren’t built to sustain lich energy. Lup and I could possess our own because it was still us in there, but if Lup stays there for long enough, you’re going to start seeing some adverse effects.”

Taako sets down his popcorn. “Like what?” he asks.

Barry blows out a breath. “Well,” he says. “My best guess is that the presence of that much necrotic energy would begin to decay your brain and you’d lose some higher thinking ability. But getting her out will be dangerous too.”

“Jesus,” Taako says. “Don’t fuckin’ sugarcoat it.” He stands up and walks a couple paces around his chair.

“I’m sorry,” Barry says, suddenly realizing how all this has sounded. “I don’t want to -- I’m not trying to scare you off, Taako, I just -- we  _ need _ to get her back.”

“Oh, no,” Taako says. He turns around, and Barry sees the borderline desperation he’s feeling directed right back at him.  “I’m right fuckin’ there with you. Let’s save my dumbass sister.”

  


Magnus spots Barry and Taako as they come back in. Barry is carrying heaps of notebooks in both of his arms and Taako has a garbage bag with various sharp metal objects poking out. 

“Hey, guys,” Magnus says, setting down his scrambled eggs. “Want some help carrying?”

“Nope,” Taako says quickly, speeding up.

“Thanks, Magnus, but we’re good,” Barry agrees, following him. 

Magnus watches them go. The last time he saw Barry that suspicious, he was making plans with Lup to become liches, but the last time he saw Taako that suspicious, he walked in on him and Kravitz and almost wished that the blinding spell Taako automatically threw at him had worked permanently. So everything is probably fine.

  


“Okay,” Taako says, once they’re safely in the room that Barry calls his workspace and everyone else calls his bedroom. “First order of business: what am I supposed to tell my boyfriend?”

“Well, is he a narc?” Barry asks, flipping through one of his notebooks.

“How dare you?” Taako says, “But also, yes. He will definitely tattle on us to divine forces if he finds out what we’re doing.” Taako sinks onto the bed, which does not appear to have been slept in. “But he’s super busy right now anyway, so maybe I won’t have to lie to him about it.”

Barry glances over. “Actively looking for ways to avoid lying to him? Man, you must be really into him.”

“Fuck you,” Taako says, good-naturedly. “I can be serious.”

“I know that,” Barry says. “I’m just surprised that you’ve let him know that.” He grins at Taako over the legal pad he’s flipping through. “Finally, you can complain to me about feelings instead of the other way around.”

Taako grins back, and then something seems to occur to him. “Oh, thank the gods,” he breathes, flopping back down on the bed. 

“What?” Barry asks.

“Krav and I haven’t had time to sleep together since the Day of Story and Song,” Taako says. “I mean, sleep together, yes, like sleep in the same bed, but he’s so busy helping the goddess clean up the Astral plane that we haven’t had had time for sex -- I mean, I don’t think Stone of Farspeech stuff really counts, because it wasn’t even -- anyway, thank goodness because can you imagine how awkward it would be for her and me  _ and Kravitz  _ for that matter--”

“I’ve changed my mind about being your confidant,” Barry says loudly. 

  


Barry wakes up at four in the morning on the floor, with a pile of notebooks from when he and Lup became liches shoved under his head and a loose stack of his and Taako’s fruitless research cradled against his chest. His neck is stiff but he feels more awake than he’s been since he got back in this body. “Taako,” he says, reaching for the leg hanging over the side of the bed. “Taako, I have an idea.”

“Mmf?” Taako says, which means he’s awake and listening but not intrigued enough to sit up.

“We know someone who is very good at getting souls into bodies,” Barry says. “Do you think he’s any good at getting them out again?”

“Can’t stand that motherfucker,” Taako groans. “Lucas Miller can suck my dick.”

“On the one hand, I completely agree,” Barry says. “But on the other, if he can save Lup, I’ll suck his.” 

  


Angus pulls himself out of bed. After being unable to sleep for the last three hours, he thinks it might be time to put his hot chocolate skills to the test. But when he reaches the kitchen, Taako is already there, stirring a pot of something on the stove. 

“Hello, sir,” Angus says. He yawns, pushing himself up onto a stool at the kitchen island. “Could you not sleep either?”

“Hmm?” Taako says. He doesn’t turn around from the pot. It smells like some kind of vegetable soup, and Angus is suddenly hungry. Taako’s long hair is pulled up in a loose topknot with the ends falling down the back of his neck. He’s wearing only a sleeveless shirt and shorts, which is unusual; it’s starting to get chilly during the night, and Taako is almost always the first to get cold. 

“That smells good, sir,” Angus says. “Can I taste it, just this once?”

“Sure,” Taako says easily. Angus thinks he must have just gotten up; Taako’s voice sounds the way it does when he’s sleepy. He uses the wooden spoon he was stirring with to fish out a chunk of potato and some broth and hands it to Angus. “Careful. S’hot.”

“Thank you!” Angus says, surprised, and he obligingly blows on it before taking a taste. “It’s delicious.”

Taako smiles, but for some reason it makes Angus slightly uneasy. Taako’s eyes look distant.  “Thanks, kid,” he says, reaching over to turn down the gas on the stovetop. “Remind me your name again?”

“Angus McDonald, sir,” Angus says, confused as to where this goof is going. 

“That’s a good name,” Taako muses, leaning on the counter. “Where are we?”

“We’re at a lake house,” Angus says slowly. “On a lake. In Faerun. Sir, are you feeling alright?”

“I’m just fine, sweets,” Taako says. He goes to move the soup pot off of the heat, but the pot is heavier than he seems to anticipate and some of the soup sloshes out. “Fuck!” Taako exclaims, hastily shoving the pot back onto the stovetop.   
Angus jumps off of his stool. “Sir, are you--?” Taako is clutching his foot, hunched over beside the soup spill on the floor. “I’ll get Merle,” Angus says.

“No!” Taako says sharply. But it’s more than that; his voice sounds different than it did moments ago. “Get Barry.”

“Sir?” Angus says.

“Angus,” Taako says, through gritted teeth. “Get Barry. Please.”

By the time Angus drags Barry down the hall into the kitchen, Taako is on the floor, sitting up against the oven door. 

“Taako--” Barry begins, kneeling beside him, but Taako cuts him off.

“She’s getting stronger,” he says, gripping Barry’s arm. Angus doesn’t think he’s ever heard that tone from Taako -- equal parts hope and worry. “I _ felt _ her that time, Barry, it was like -- it was like  _ she  _ was in control. I was asleep, and I thought I was dreaming, but then I was in the kitchen, with--” He jerks his head over to look at Angus. Barry glances over his shoulder at him too.

“Sirs,” Angus says. “You need to explain what the fuck is happening.”

“Okay,” Barry says, once Angus has been caught up. They’re sitting back in Barry’s room; Taako and Angus are on the bed with Barry pacing in front of them. “The most important thing now is that we have to move fast. If she can be in control of your body -- not just exist there, but be in charge -- then everything is happening a lot faster than I thought it would. If she could get out of you, she would have by now. Which means it’s up to us to help her, which means--”

“Lucas,” Taako finishes, sighing. 

“We need to do this soon,” Barry says. “We’re gonna have to move fast.”

Angus scooches forward from where he was sitting in between Taako’s legs. “How can I help?” he asks.

  


In the morning, when Davenport comes out for his morning walk, Angus is already up. “Barry and Taako said to tell you they’re going on a trip,” he says.

“Alright,” Davenport says, pouring coffee into his travel mug. “Did they say how long they’d be gone?”

“About a week,” Angus says, which is what Barry told him to say. Barry had added,  _ and if we’re not back by then, we’re-- _ and Taako elbowed him, hard, and Barry said,  _ well, just don’t wait up. _

  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Uh, hell no,” Lucas Miller says. “I barely escaped being thrown in ghost jail last time, and now you want me to do the exact same thing that almost got me caught?”
> 
> “Actually, we want you to do the opposite,” Barry says. “We’re asking you to take a soul out of someone’s body.”
> 
> Lucas squints at him. “Then I’ll go to normal jail for murder, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Uh, hell no,” Lucas Miller says. “I barely escaped being thrown in ghost jail last time, and now you want me to do the exact same thing that almost got me caught?”

“Actually, we want you to do the opposite,” Barry says. “We’re asking you to take a soul out of someone’s body.”

Lucas squints at him. “Then I’ll go to normal jail for murder, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Put it this way,” Taako says. He mentioned earlier that he missed being able to swing the Umbrastaff around, but his normal wand is plenty terrifying right now. “I’ve got an extra passenger in here that we need to keep safe. And I’m in good with the Grim Reaper. You wanna mess with that?”

Lucas eyes him. “You could be lying.”

Without breaking eye contact, Taako pulls out his Stone of Farspeech and punches something in. “Hey honey?” he says.

A crackle, and then Kravitz says, “What’s up?”

“I thought he was British,” Lucas whispers.

Taako makes a shut up motion. “We’re still on for dinner tomorrow, right?” he says into the Stone.

“We certainly are,” Kravitz says. Barry can hear the smile in his voice. “Gods, I can’t wait to see you.”

“You too, Bone Boy,” Taako says. “See you tomorrow.”

Kravitz laughs. “Good,” he says, “Lo--”

Taako hangs up. “Capisce?” he says. 

Lucas glares. “Capisce,” he echoes sullenly. “So what was your plan?”

“The winning plan right now is to pump Taako full of enough necrotic energy that we siphon off of me that it’ll force Lup out,” Barry says. “For obvious reasons, it’s a last resort.”

“I’ll say,” Lucas says. “You’d be lucky if he didn’t explode. But as a theory, it’s not a bad basis. You’re going to need some way to hold him still, or you run the risk of pulling his soul out too, and that’s no good. Unless--” He looks thoughtful.

“Nope,” Barry says. “It has to be safe for Taako, or we’re not doing it.” He can feel Taako looking at the side of his head.

“Then you can’t do it,” Lucas says, backing up and around his desk to scribble something in his notes. “I don’t know if you’re clued in, but this is not a good situation you’ve got here. Out of control liches are a bad idea to start with, but you’ve shoved one inside a living being’s body, which is, uh…” He gestures with a pen, looking for a word. “A bad goddamn situation for everyone involved.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Taako mutters.

“But,” Lucas continues, “The necrotic energy is a good starting place. You just need to be able to control the flow of it, because too much at once could tear him right apart, along with whoever’s inside him.” He points the pen at them. “Capisce?”

“Shut up with the capisce,” Taako says, waving a hand at him. “That’s my fuckin’ thing. We get it. The question is, can you do it?”

Lucas looks at him, then back to Barry, then down at his notes. “Fuck me, yeah,” he says. “I think so. Give me an hour.” He starts gathering blank sheets of graph paper. “But I’m gonna need it in writing that you won’t sue if this goes sideways.”

 

“Taako,” Barry says quietly. He pulls the leather strap around Taako’s wrist a little tighter. “Are you sure about this?”

Taako frowns at him. “‘Course I’m sure,” he says. “What’re my options? Get corroded from the inside by my undead sister? Or worse, she just fades away and we lose her? Forever this time?”

Barry hangs his head. “I wish it was me,” he says.

“If my leg weren’t tied to the wall, I would kick you,” Taako says.

“Understood,” Barry says, stepping away.

“Wait,” Taako says. “Barry, hang on, one last thing.” He beckons him closer with a finger. Barry steps forward. “I looked at the theories you wrote out,” he says. “And they’re good, but you’re missing something.”

“What is it?” Barry asks. “I thought I got everything--”

“You didn’t consider what happens if she comes back to full strength while her soul is still inside me,” Taako says. “Which is that it’s pretty likely mine gets pushed out and she gets the brain. You can check my math, but there’s a good chance of it. So--”

“Taako--”

“So if that happens,” Taako says, talking over him. “Stop trying to get her out of this body. I’ll be dead, so you won’t be able to do anything about that without catching Krav’s attention, and she’ll have a body, which will solve a lot of problems. A body that’s basically the same, except for stuff that’s you guys can change easily. And it’ll be weird but eventually you’ll get over the physical stuff of it being technically my body, because it would be her in here.”

“Please stop talking,” Barry says. His chest hurts. “I can’t -- I can’t consider that, Taako. You’re going to be fine. Lucas knows what he’s doing.”

Taako looks over his shoulder pointedly. Barry follows his gaze. Lucas is fiddling with a couple of cords, trying to plug one into another. As they watch, he tries another cord and smiles triumphantly when it fits, only to realize that it’s the other end of the first cord. 

“...Anyway,” Taako says. “You better get over there.”

Barry nods at him and moves over behind the protective shield. Lucas has finally gotten the cord plugged into what looks like a glue gun. 

“We’re ready,” he says, managing to make it come out relatively steady. 

“This should just feel like a pinprick,” Lucas says, hefting his device. “But like, if the pin was the size of a pencil.” And he shoves it, none too gently, into Barry’s wrist. 

Barry holds back a groan as he feels the room get a little bit colder. It’s much easier to keep control of himself when he has a physical form, but he hadn’t considered just how much having energy sucked out of him would  _ hurt _ . 

“Steady,” Lucas says.

Barry leans heavily against the desk. “Shut up,” he says. 

In front of them, strapped to the wall, Taako’s eyes close.

 

Kravitz looks back at his Stone of Farspeech, which he left on the desk in front of him. Taako had sounded a little odd, on the Stone earlier, and it occurs to Kravitz that they didn’t settle on a place to eat yet. 

Giving into temptation, Kravitz picks up the stone and redials. Taako doesn’t pick up. Kravitz is about to try again when the buzzer at the back of the room goes off -- Type 1 emergency. The portal against the wall opens, ready to take him where he needs to go.

Kravitz pushes himself out of his chair, grabs his cloak and scythe, straightens his hair, and strides through.

 

Here is what Kravitz sees, in no particular order:

  * His boyfriend, unconscious and held to the wall.
  * Lucas Miller, known to be disrespectful to the Forces That Be, standing and doing nothing as a distinctly Miller-style machine funnels dark energy into Kravitz’s boyfriend (see above).
  * Barry Bluejeans, known lich, obviously woozy at the amount of dark energy currently being siphoned out of him.
  * A magic shield that means he will not be able to reach Taako.



 

Kravitz does not bother announcing his presence; Lucas Miller barely turns his head before Kravitz blasts him with what is, for all intents and purposes, an Astral taser. He hits his head on a chair before collapsing onto the floor, and Kravitz is not in the slightest bit sorry. 

He grabs Barry by the scruff of the neck. Barry may be on probation on account of having saved the world, but this most certainly violates it. “What have you done?” he thunders, shaking him roughly. “What have you done to him?”

Barry blinks at him. Kravitz pulls the doo-dad out of his arm, and Barry’s eyes widen in panic. 

“No, no, no,” he says. “You can’t -- I have to--” He grabs it back and pushes the end back into his arm, gritting his teeth. Before he can take it back, Kravitz catches movement out of the corner of his eye; Taako is now straining against the straps holding him to the wall, head thrown back.

“Stop!” Kravitz yells, but before he can do anything, Taako’s whole body goes limp. Kravitz freezes, and Barry uses his advantage to do a temporary paralysis spell on him. 

 

Taako’s head falls forward, and with the movement, something not entirely substantial falls out of him, as though his soul was falling out of his body -- but it isn’t him. It’s a figure in a crimson robe, who topples onto the floor. 

“Lup,” Barry breathes. He pushes Kravitz off of him and stumbles forward, through the shield that Kravitz can’t enter. He staggers to her. He can’t touch her, but his presence seems to rouse her slightly. 

“Barry,” she says. His heartbeat falters at the sound of her voice saying his name. He’s never seen her lich form so indistinct. “You look awful.”

Barry chokes out a laugh. “Haven’t been sleeping great--”

“Shh, babe, I’m not done,” she says. 

Barry wipes his eyes. “Sorry, go ahead.”

Through the blur of her shadowy face, Barry thinks he can see a smile. “I think you’re suffering from a deficiency of Vitamin ME.”

When he sobs, Barry thinks he can feel the brush of her spectral fingers over his face. 

“Can’t keep this form together long, babe,” she says gently. “Gotta recharge for a little bit.”

“I know,” Barry says, wishing he could hold onto her. “I’ll be right there with you when you wake up.”

 

Kravitz wakes up on the cold lab floor. No one should be powerful enough to knock him out like that, but Barry Bluejeans has never seemed to care much for the natural order of things. This is further evidenced by the fact that he is currently kneeling on the floor, trying to cradle a lich in his arms. Kravitz saw the Story and Song the same as everyone else; he knows who that is.

Kravitz drags himself to his knees and slams his fist against the barrier. 

Barry startles. “Sorry,” he says, and he waves his hand. The shield disappears. 

Kravitz pushes to his feet and moves to Taako, only wobbling slightly. “Barry Bluejeans,” he says. “I know you saved the world, but if you’ve hurt him, I’ll kill you.” 

He reaches Taako. He’s almost afraid to touch him; because of his job, he can see when someone is alive or dead, and Taako is leaning towards the latter. Carefully, so as not to spook the soul out of him with any movement, Kravitz places his hands on Taako’s shoulders and pushes the dark energy out of him as cleanly as he can. 

Taako exhales, a tiny huff of air as his head falls to the side. Kravitz’s heart tries to beat; he can feel it stuttering inside his ribs. He undoes the straps with a spell and lets Taako slump against him, trying to support his head. His body is worryingly lax, but just as Kravitz tries to lower him to the ground, he feels him pull in another breath.

“Hey,” Taako says softly. He’s pretty much speaking into Kravitz’s ear. 

Kravitz pulls him closer, holding him as tightly as he dares. “What were you thinking?” he manages. “I thought--” He can’t finish.

Taako smooths a hand down the back of his hair, clutching him just as tightly. “We’ve been dating for a while,” he says. “You should know by now that I’m pretty dumb.”

Kravitz pulls back and kisses him. Taako throws an arm over Kravitz’s shoulder to hold him closer, stroking over the stubble on his jaw with the other. Now that Taako’s free of the energy, he’s warm, almost overwhelmingly so, and all Kravitz wants to do is hold him until the warmth seeps into him too. He gets an arm around Taako’s lower back, where his shirt is riding up. Taako shivers and buries his face in the place where Kravitz’s neck meets his shoulder.

“Taako,” Barry calls from the floor.

“Mm?” Taako says.

“You good?” Barry asks.

Taako lifts his head up enough to answer, “Peachy keen. You?”

“Never better,” Barry says.

Kravitz pulls back enough to look Taako in the eye. Relief has made him almost giddy, but he still has a job. “You know we’re going to have to talk about the fact that your sister’s a lich, right?”

Taako nods. He’s just gotten a hand up under Kravitz’s suit jacket, and even through Kravitz’s dress shirt, the heat of his skin nearly burns.  “I figured,” he says. Now that Kravitz is really looking at him, he can tell he looks exhausted. “But can it wait? Until after our nap?”

Despite himself, Kravitz smiles. “Yeah,” he says, pressing his forehead against Taako’s. “I think maybe it can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there may or may not end up being an epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> catch me on tumblr @mcgonagollygee


End file.
